Marcellus Shale
The Marcellus Shale – America's next super giant
Down in Texas the big gas companies are talking about northeast Pennsylvania and New York as the place to be. The Catskills and the Delaware River Valley sit on top of Marcellus Shale. Marcellus Shale lies under much of northern Appalachia 6,000 to 8,000 feet below the surface; the pores in the shale contain large quantities of natural gas. The shale layer becomes thicker from west to east beginning at about 50 feet in Ohio to more than 100 feet thick in central PA and NY. Geologists have known about the gas here for years but now with the new technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, recovering the gas is now the big new "Shale Play" as the industry refers to it. We are seeing the "land men" knocking on doors to obtain gas leases for various companies, with Chesapeake leading the charge in our area (mostly the Delaware River Valley in PA, Sullivan and Delaware counties). Community groups are forming on both sides of the issue from landowner associations to better negotiate a lease to groups fighting drilling altogether.
What does this all mean to the average resident? It means that landowners, towns, counties and regional organizations have a very short time to come up to speed with all the issues involved with gas exploration. As a new "shale play" we don't have a history in this particular formation but we certainly have a history with gas exploration and the complexity of the issues involved. Here are a few topics we all need to look closer at:
• Hydraulic Fracturing: "Fracking” as it is called within the industry involves injecting water, sand and special chemicals into the shale layer at extremely high pressure. This then separates the pores in the rock and the sand particles "hold" the cracks open so the gas can flow back to the drill bore. Some of the injected fluids remain trapped underground. A number of these fluids qualify as hazardous materials and carcinogens, and are toxic enough to contaminate groundwater resources. There are cases in the U.S. where hydraulic fracturing is the suspected source of impaired or polluted drinking water. In Alabama, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, incidents have been recorded by people who have gas wells near their homes. They have reported changes in water quality or quantity following fracturing operations. Most of these incidences involve coal-bed methane production, which is a much shallower drilling process, but it highlights how poorly the gas companies are protecting the communities they are working in.
• Regulatory Issues: After decades of deal making between government and the industry it has resulted in exemptions for the oil and gas companies from protections in the clean water act, the environmental response, compensation, and liability act (CERCLA also known as the Superfund law), the resource Conservation and recovery act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Also, the gas industry is not covered by public right to know provisions, which mean companies can withhold information about the chemicals they use in the "fracking” process.
• Pollution: The pollution from oil and gas exploration and production has involved known carcinogens, reproductive toxicants, and other toxic chemicals like arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, mercury and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including benzene and xylene.
• Fragmentation: The Catskills and adjacent lands in Pennsylvania contain some of the largest contiguous forest blocks east of the Mississippi River. This area acts as an important species corridor between the Catskill Park, the Shawangunk Ridge, the Hudson Highlands and the Poconos. There are multiple species of either endangered or special concern and indicator species of healthy vibrant habitat found here. The number of roads and increased heavy truck traffic and cleared swaths for pipelines to connect the drilling pads to the millennium pipeline will dissect these important forest blocks and corridor.
• Air and Noise Pollution: Drilling for gas is a highly industrial undertaking which includes numerous truckloads of equipment, chemicals, sand and water along with generators, pumps, drilling rigs and hoists. All of which are running at all hours of the day producing noise and exhaust fumes. When gas is found there can be a release of the various gases in the formation.
• Normally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORMS): NORMS are found in many geological formations and can be brought to the surface on drilling equipment and in fluids. Once at the surface it can accumulate as sediments in holding tanks and ponds. This is an issue in the Barnett Shale, which are not the same rock. However, NORMS occur in NY at higher levels than in PA and have not been tested in the eastern part of the state.
• Development: Increased development in other rural areas of the country where there are productive Gas fields has resulted in large influxes of industry workers which will have multiple impacts to the respective communities.
There are some excellent web sites out there covering these issues more in depth such as The Oil and Gas accountability project By Earthworks www.ogap.org. A very important document they have produced is Oil and Gas at Your Door? A landowner’s guide to oil and gas development.
Another great document put out by the Natural Resources Defense Council is: NRDC Natural Gas Drilling Fact Sheet: Drillng Down: Protecting Western Communities from the Health and Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Production. (October, 2007 PDF)
Most of the National groups have information on this topic especially concerning public land and the Sierra Club's Atlantic Chapter and Trout Unlimited are actively involved in the issue here in the Catskills.
There are many community groups throughout the country faced with gas drilling that have websites. Here are two for example that offer valuable information; FWCANDO.ORG from Fort Worth Texas, which is in the Barnett shale Similar to Marcellus and Damascus Citizens for Sustainability at www.DamascusCitizens.org an organization based in Damascus PA dedicated to "preventing the dire effects of gas well drilling, such as polluted drinking water, carcinogens in the farmland and food chain, torn-up roads, risk of gas fires, plummeting real estate values, and screeching noise polution."
THE MILLENNIUM PIPELINE
The 182-mile Millennium Pipeline was approved late last year by federal regulators and workers have begun laying pipes. When it's done, the line will run from Corning in Steuben County across New York's Southern Tier and down the western side of Sullivan and Orange counties, ending at Ramapo in Rockland County. It will replace a 10-inch pipeline owned by Columbia Gas with a 30-inch line. The project is expected to be completed late next year, when the line will begin supplying natural gas to utilities along its route.
In the Catskills there are a number of groups that are now working on the gas drilling issue.
The Delaware Riverkeeper and the Hudson Riverkeeper are closely monitoring and informing the public about gas drilling and it's potential impacts on there respective wathersheds.
**all photo's above courtesy of the New York Times**
** The Marcellus shale maps, horizontal well art, photomicrograph and image captions below are used with permission of Geology.com. Do not reproduce, reprint or otherwise use this content without permission from Geology.com. **
| Thickness map of the Marcellus Shale. Modified after: United States Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2006-1237, Assessment of Appalachian Basin oil and gas resources: Devonian Shale-Middle and Upper Paleozoic Total Petroleum System, by Robert Milici and Christopher Swezey. |
| This map shows the approximate depth to the base of the Marcellus Shale. It was prepared using the map by by Robert Milici and Christopher Swezey above and plotting depth-to-Marcellus contours published by Wallace de Witt and others, 1993, United States Department of Energy Report: The Atlas of Major Appalachian Gas Plays. |
| Wells drilled into the Marcellus employ two technologies that are relatively new in the Appalachian Basin. One is horizontal drilling, in which a vertical well is deviated to horizontal so that it will penetrate a maximum number of vertical rock fractures. The second is "hydrofracing" in which a portion of the well is sealed off and water is pumped in to produce a pressure that is high enough to fracture the surrounding rock. The result is a highly fractured reservoir that is penetrated by a long length of well bore. |
| Photomicrograph of a polished section of Marcellus Shale in reflected light. The gold particles are pyrite grains which are common in organic-rich rocks. The large brown elongated body is a compressed plant spore with a few pyrite grains in the central cavity. The remainder of the rock is a clay matrix with a heavy brown organic stain.The width of this image spans about 0.2 millimeter of the shale. |
THE MILLENNIUM PIPELINE
The 182-mile Millennium Pipeline was approved late last year by federal regulators and workers have begun laying pipes. When it's done, the line will run from Corning in Steuben County across New York's Southern Tier and down the western side of Sullivan and Orange counties, ending at Ramapo in Rockland County. It will replace a 10-inch pipeline owned by Columbia Gas with a 30-inch line. The project is expected to be completed late next year, when the line will begin supplying natural gas to utilities along its route.
A 12-mile section of the 30-inch natural gas pipeline is being installed from Tuxedo to Ramapo in Rockland County. Later this summer, about three miles will be installed in the Mongaup area of Sullivan County.
Millennium Pipeline is comprised of 182 miles of 30-inch diameter steel pipeline and related 15,000 horsepower compressor station capable of transporting up to 525,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas.
The balance of the pipeline will be built next year.
The pipeline will be the main outlet for all of the natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Valley and the Catskills.
Millennium Phase 1 will include the 186-mile section of Millennium from Corning, N.Y., to Ramapo, N.Y. This section replaces and upgrades an existing Columbia Gas Transmission natural gas pipeline:
Diagram of the Marc I Hub Line (Graphic: Business Wire). The above grapic shows the various natural gas pipelines and hub lines that criss cross the Marcellus Shale formation in our area. Click on the picture above for a larger version courtesy of Business Wire.
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Northeast Region Natural Gas Pipeline Network 
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Other Natural Gas Transportation Topics: Interstate - Pipeline systems that cross one or more States
Intrastate - Pipeline systems that operate only within State boundaries Network Design - Basic concepts and parameters
Pipeline Capacity & Usage
Regulatory Authorities Transportation, Processing, & Gathering Transportation Corridors
Underground Natural Gas Storage Pipeline Development & Expansion U.S./Canada/Mexico Import & Export Locations
New York State State Land Oil and Gas Leasing
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is authorized under Article 23, Title 11 of the Environmental Conservation Law to lease state lands for oil and gas exploration and development and for underground gas storage. State park lands, including the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserves, lands under the waters of Lake Ontario and certain other lands are excluded from leasing. The Department is not authorized to lease lands under Lake Erie for oil development. Leasing of state lands has occurred since the 1930s.
The Division of Mineral Resources acts as the leasing agent for large tracts of state land, working with the state surface managers to identify areas suitable for leasing and to develop area-specific special conditions and stipulations to provide for exploration and development in a safe, environmentally sound manner consistent with surface management objectives. The Division also leases small tracts of state lands non-competitively when oil or gas will be drained from the lands and for gas storage. The Department does not regulate leases on private lands, but does provide information in the Landowner's Guide to Oil and Gas Leasing brochure.
At the end of 2007, DEC administered 106 leases on 83,021 acres of state land in Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Cortland, Erie, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins Counties.
Revenue from oil and gas leases are deposited as follows:
- General Fund for State Reforestation and Multiple Use Areas
- Conservation Fund for Wildlife Management Areas
- Through DEC exchange account to the appropriate other state agency
Information from the DEC website here:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/1528.html
New York State Oil and Gas, Mining And Reclamation Laws
The policy statements for the Mined Land Reclamation Law and the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Law are posted on this site. Complete text of both laws can be found at the New York State Legislation website. From this opening page select the link "Laws of New York", then choose "ENV" for Environmental Conservation Law, then pick Article 23 or Article 71 and the relevant Title.
Article 23 - Mineral Resources
Title 1 - (23-0101 - 23-0102) Definitions
Title 3 - (23-0301 - 23-0313) General Provisions
Title 5 - (23-0501 - 23-0503) Well Permits and Well Spacing in Oil and Natural Gas Pools and Fields
Title 7 - (23-0701) Voluntary Integration and Unitization in Oil and Natural Gas Pools and Fields
Title 9 - (23-0901) Compulsory Integration and Unitization in Oil and Natural Gas Pools and Fields
Title 11 - (23-1101 - 23-1103) Leases for Production and Storage of Oil and Gas on State Lands
Title 13 - (23-1301 - 23-1307) Underground Storage of Gas
Title 17 - (23-1701 - 23-1727) Liquefied Natural And Petroleum Gas
Title 19 - (23-1901 - 23-1903) Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulation and Reclamation Fee
Title 21 - (23-2101) Interstate Compact to Conserve Oil and Gas
Title 23 - (23-2301 - 23-2311) Rerefining of Used Oil
Title 24 - (23-2401 - 23-2402) New York State Oil Energy Conservation Program
Title 27 - (23-2701 - 23-2723) New York State Mined Land Reclamation Law
Article 71 - Enforcement
Title 13 - (71-1301 - 71-1311) Enforcement of Article 23
Information Sources
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United States Geological Survey Fact Sheet 009-03:USGS Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Appalachian Basin Province, 2002 United States Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2005-1268 |
OTHER RESOURCES:
Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, July 18, 2008: Drilling Regulations May Be Needed, Protecting Water Quality Crucial Says Governor's Aid
New York Times Article June 29, 2008: Our Towns: Gas Driller in Race for Hearts and Land, by Peter Applebome
Mid-Hudson News Network: NY, PA share common concern over gas drililng, May 22, 2008
Associated Press: Landowners Getting Trampled in Gas Rights Rush, May 28, 2008
Shale Gas: Focus on th Marcellus Shale: Oil & Gas Accountability Project's latest report on the Marcellus Shale and drilling for natural gas in NY and PA.
Delaware Riverkeeper: Natural Gas Drilling and Production Fact Sheet, June, 2008
Article In The Times Herald Record: The Search for Natural Gas: Western Sullivan Might Contain Vast Reserves, April 14, 2008
Article In The New York Times: There's Gas in Those Hills, April 8, 2008
Article #1 In The River Reporter: A Primer on Gas Well Gold Rush: From the Marcellus Shale to Horizontal Drilling, February 28 - March 5, 2008
Article #2 In The River Reporter: Western PA Landowners Regret Deep Gas Wells Deals: Gasses Bubbling Out of the Ground and Into Drinking Wells and Ponds, April 10 - April 16, 2008
Editorial In The River Reporter: "?Nor Any Drop to Drink", April 10 - April 16, 2008
WNYC Radio: Natural Gas Could Transform Sullivan County, April 15, 2008
Elmira Star Gazette: Owners Have Way To Fight Landmen, March 30,2008
Times Herald Record: Drilling in Sullivan Raises Many Issues, May 9, 2008
The New York Times Magazine: Drilling for Defeat, May 18, 2008
Energy Information Administration: Natural Gas Pipelines in the Northeast Region, 2008
Times Herald Record: Drilling in Sullivan Raises Many Issues, May 9, 2008
The New York Times Magazine: Drilling for Defeat, May 18, 2008
Energy Information Administration: Natural Gas Pipelines in the Northeast Region, 2008
Landowner Option Guide: Answers to what happens if a lease is not signed, and options
Powder River Basin Resource Council: Committed to the preservation and enrichment of Wyoming's agricultural heritage and rural lifestyle. The conservation of Wyoming's unique land, mineral, water, and clean air resources consistent with responsible use of those resources to sustain the livelihood of present and future generations. The education and empowerment of Wyoming's citizens to raise a coherent voice in the decisions that will impact their environment and lifestyle.
Western Colorado Congress and Grand Valley Citizen's Alliance: Western Colorado Congress (WCC) is a grassroots, democratic organization dedicated to challenging injustice by organizing people to increase their power over decisions that affect their lives. WCC's community groups and members work together to create healthy, sustainable communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship and a truly democratic society
The New York State Bill A10526 That Amends the Current State Laws That Regulate Natural Gas Drilling In The State
The bill has not yet been signed by Governor Patterson.
Read the final Summary of the Bill A10526 that passed both the House and Senate
Read the Text of Bill A10526
The bill has not yet been signed by Governor Patterson.
Read the final Summary of the Bill A10526 that passed both the House and Senate
Read the Text of Bill A10526
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